Voice SMS Consumer Corner

Dear Friends, according to a recent report, farmers in the “texting capital” of the world-the Philippines-will soon have nutrient management advice tailored specifically to their rice crops delivered to their mobile phones.

Dr. Roland Buresh, part of the International Rice Research (IRRI) team that has joined the Philippine Department of Agriculture to establish the system, says that after responding to a series of simple questions about their rice paddy, farmers would receive an automated text reply recommending what amounts, sources, and timings of fertilizer are needed for profitable rice production in their paddy.

For farmers who are illiterate however, it would be an uphill task to access and understand these messages. This is a gap which can be very aptly filled by Voice SMS application. When farmers get Voice SMS by outbound dialing, wherein they receive a phone call in their own native tongue, telling them various important announcements of inclement weather, irrigation projects, market details, produce pricing, fertilizer information etc., it is much more effective then text messages which may or may not be read or understood.

Voice SMS can play a crucial role in relaying important and urgent information to people who are not literate in reading and writing.

While India is awaiting an imminent onset of 3G, Sprint in US has gone ahead and made available wireless 4G network commercially.

In addition to the ongoing market roll outs of 4G service across the country, Sprint has several new 4G devices planned for 2009 and 2010, including a single-mode 4G data card, embedded laptops, a small-office-home-office broadband modem and a tri-mode phone. Sprint was the first wireless carrier to offer access to both 3G and 4G networks on one device – the 3G/4G USB Modem U300.

Sprint made history by launching 4G in Baltimore in September 2008, then by launching the first dual-mode 3G/4G device in December. The current availability of Sprint 4G in Baltimore and the roll-out of 4G in major markets in 2009 and 2010 delivers on Sprint’s promise to offer a faster Internet experience in cities across the nation than any other wireless service from a national carrier.

With speeds upto 10 times faster than 3G, a 4G network brings the Internet to life and represents a shift in the way business, consumers and local governments will use mobile broadband, by extending the Internet beyond home or office use. 4G data cards, laptop solutions and phones will enable businesses and individuals to work when and where they want.

4G enables rich content, larger file transfers, streaming video and low-latency remote access. 4G-enabled smart phones have the promise of delivering processing power, applications and now the network connectivity to replace the laptop paradigm.

For most of us this is more of a fantasy than a reality. Some counteries have been stuck at lower technologies for a long time.
We hope that 4G becomes a reality globally and makes next gen communication a reality within this year….
(Source of Sprint news: Sprint PR dated March 25, 2009)

Literacy or affordability no longer remain a qualifying criteria for mobile usage in most countries today. Rural telecom is an upcoming buzz word opening up new opportunities for adoption and use of Mobile Value Added Services. This can be witnessed by the ever expanding mobile subscriber base in rural areas. Until a couple of decades ago, nobody knew the potential of this common interacting mobile device that has now capitalized people’s need for information and entertainment.

Mobile phones are proving to be the most important networked knowledge exchange technology being used in the developing world. Some mobile VAS applications in rural areas in developing countries are as under;

 In Ethiopia, in 2008 UNICEF implemented RapidSMS technology to monitor the distribution of RUTF (Peanut-based Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food) amongst the population, compiling mobile text message data into real-time correlated reports.

 In Kenya, a crowd sourcing approach is utilized over cell phones that offers literate mobile phone subscribers in the developing world new ways to earn extra money. The service connects corporations with small tasks to be completed—currently, the most common ones include software localization and translation into local dialects. Companies like Nokia pay people to accomplish millions of simple text based tasks like translation into and from local dialects.

 In South Africa cell phones are being utilized to send SMS to rural populace for transmitting messages on HIV-AIDS information

 In Tanzania market spies called “shu shu shu” are scattered around the country to collect information about markets and share them via cellphones with other members of the same organization.

 In Syria, mobile phones are used as a device to spread farmers’ experiences and knowledge of farming and plant breeding with their other contemporaries.

 In Uganda, applications like farmer’s friend, health tips, clinic finder, Google trader, Activism campaign against gender based violence, CELAC (Collecting and Exchanging local Exchange Agricultural Content) project are being carried out through mobile phones.

 In Vietnam iNhaNong (a software product installed in mobile phones) was introduced in 2008 through which agricultural products are purchased by sending text messages.

Voice SMS is one of the prominent VAS services imparting life to plain text. Voice transmission has many advantages over SMS and data transmissions. Voice SMS channels human, spoken language directly to the receiver; users of many literacy levels can use voice technology; issue commands and requests in their native local language.

Voice SMS based subscription services can be transmitted to rural audience comprising of Information on fertilizers and Crops, Weather, Healthcare, Education Governments Social schemes viz., Polio, Registration, Flood or Drought schemes etc., NGO Schemes, Commodity Prices, Emergencies, New career choices, Social Reform message (overcoming caste, racial, gender divides), Corporate products, Entertainment and Religion.

Folks….we recently deployed our Call-n-Tweet solution with Viva, named TwitVoz, in Dominican Republic.

With this launch, Viva DR mobile subscribers can update their status on Twitter through voice tweets. Call-n-Tweet holds various benefits for the Twitter user community over a text tweet. It is easier and faster to tweet using voice. Audio works better than simple text as your voice can convey your emotions. Sending an audio message is a richer medium and users are not restricted to the message length of 160 characters. Call-n-Tweet can also be effectively used for micro blogging.

Social networking sites have become a very important part of our lives and constant interactions between people using sites such as Twitter make this ecosystem more vibrant. Mobile subscribers are today looking for more ways to interact with the social networking sites from their mobiles.

Our Call-n-Tweet product is designed to be offered by carriers to allow their mobile subscribers to connect with social networking sites such as Twitter. In addition, subscribers in USA can sign up at callntweet.com and use the service for free.

Hi Folks, Uganda’s leading mobile provider MTN says it has experienced a significant adoption of Voice SMS in the first three months of the launch of the service. MTN launched Voice SMS service across Uganda, based on pioneering Voice SMS technology from Kirusa.

MTN Uganda Voice SMS service has seen adoption by over 11 percent of its subscribers within three months of the launch of Voice SMS on their network.

Voice SMS allows the subscribers to send messages by voice, eliminating the need to type, further stating that it enables the subscribers to communicate faster, with greater ease, and convey emotions as compared to limitations of text messages.

Use of Voice SMS by mobile subscribers is gaining global relevance for its benefits in surpassing the limitations of text messages.

Uers can send messages to other MTN users, as well as to subscribers of other mobile carriers in Uganda. The service is being promoted, and awareness is being created in the subscriber base, using several methods, including USSD, SMS, MTN retail outlets, and radio.

Chief Marketing Officer of MTN Uganda Isaac Nsereko, said the service has been receiving an overwhelming response from the subscribers since its launch three months ago.

“The richness of the Kirusa solution and the support from the Kirusa team has been instrumental in achieving this success,” he said.

MTN introduced tiered pricing for Voice SMS for prepaid subscribers with discounted pricing for sending Voice SMS to on-net subscribers and during off-peak hours. Postpaid subscribers pay one price for sending Voice SMS to on-net and off-net at all times. MTN’s offer of free repeat listen calls for three months also added an impetus to the traffic.

Dear Friends, we have introduced a mini poll on consumer corner (voicesms.kirusa.com) here. Pls help us in knowing your likes and dislikes by voting on these series of mini polls we have started. For sending us more comments on the polls, post comments here, or on facebook or send us an email at voicesms@kirusa.com.

We would be giving out free Amazon gift vouchers to the voters in random lucky draws done at regular intervals.

Looking forward to your votes…thanks…:)

We wish you and yours a very Happy New Year 2010.

Keep Voice SMSing

New Year, Voice SMS Kirusa

SMS GupShup, a Twitter-like service in India that is primarily accessed via SMS, has grown to 26 million users and now accounts for 5 percent of all text messages sent within India.

Part of SMS GupShup’s success has been due to the immense popularity of mobile devices in India. Currently there are 550 million mobile phone users in the country and only 50 million web users. With a 10 to 1 mobile-to-PC ratio and SMS serving as the most popular communications platform, the market is ripe for microblogging to take off. SMS GupShup is currently processing over 480 million messages a month and accounts for an astounding 5 percent of all texts sent within India.

The microblogging platform has evolved into a social network of sorts, with the ability for members to create and join groups. SMS GupShup can definitely benefit from Kirusa’s recently announced Call-n-Tweet service.

Kirusa’s Call-n-Tweet enables Twitter users to send Voice Tweets (short audio snippets) to update their Twitter status.
The Call-n-Tweet service is currently in alpha, and is available to Twitter users in the USA. Tens of millions of Twitter users can immediately benefit from this service.

Call-n-Tweet holds various benefits for the Twitter User community over a text tweet.
• It is easier and faster to tweet using voice.
• Users can safely “voice tweet” hands free, even while driving.
• Audio works better than simple text as your voice can convey your emotions.
• Sending an audio message is a richer medium and users are not restricted to the message length of 160 characters.

“Call-n-Tweet is an exciting service that continues the Kirusa tradition of bringing innovative user friendly value added services to the market place,” said Inderpal Singh Mumick, CEO Kirusa. He added, “The popularity of Twitter is tremendous and, until now, there really wasn’t an efficient way to tweet using your voice from the mobile phone. Call-n-Tweet allows any mobile user to just speak and update their status on Twitter, providing a safe and convenient alternative to texting. We plan to leverage our existing Kirusa deployments and operator relationships worldwide to bring the Call-n-Tweet user experience in other countries as well.”

And its not just social platforms that see the opportunity in mobile communication in India. Nokia recently launched WeMeet, a social texting service. Google even ventured into the mobile space in India, with Google Labs India launching an SMS Channel, similar in theory to an RSS feed.

US Federal employees will not be allowed to text while driving, according to an executive order signed recently by President Obama.

The order covers federal employees when they are using government-provided cars or cellphones and when they are using their own phones and cars to conduct government business.

Separately, the federal government plans to ban text messaging by bus drivers and truckers who travel across state lines, and may also preclude them from using cellphones while driving, except in emergencies.

Ray H. LaHood, the transportation secretary, announced those and several other measures on Thursday, aimed at curbing what he called a deadly epidemic of distracted driving.

In other parts of the world, mainly Asia, Africa and Middle East, drivers can use Voice SMS to send their messages by speaking.

Kirusa Voice SMS enables mobile subscribers to send messages by speaking. A subscriber dials * or a pre-defined code, followed by the recipient’s number and speaks a short message. The recipient gets an SMS notification from the sender and can dial a number in the notification to directly access the spoken message.

Voice SMS makes it safer for people to send messages while driving.

According to the National Safety Council, a nonprofit safety advocacy group, several hundred companies have banned employees from using their cellphones while driving. That group says such bans improve safety, help limit the liability of employers when accidents do occur, and free employees from feeling pressure to respond immediately while they are behind the wheel.

Amazon’s favourite e-reader Kindle has more competition. First American bookstore Barnes and Noble launched its double screen e-reader Nook. Now Intel has launched the Intel Reader, a mobile handheld device which can read printed text aloud. Aimed to aid USA’s rising population affected by physical disabilities and ailments, this will also be a straight challenge to Amazon’s Kindle.

Although the Intel Reader, is about the size of a paperback book, it works more or less in the same pattern as a standard e-reader and converts printed text to digital text, and reads it aloud using text-to-speech processing. Words in the Intel Reader appear on a 4.3-inch LCD screen as they are being read aloud, and can be magnified to suit specific users.

The Intel Reader also has additional capability of allowing users to load content in a way similar to loading files on to a digital music player or through an integrated high-resolution camera. The device is complete with a 4GB memory capable of storing 600 pages of images and text and a rechargeable battery.